Contaminating With a Smile
Recently, I had a long-time friend comment that my smile and attitude are contagious. Immediately, I thought, well, that’s one thing I am happy to infect others with!
But how can I do that when I am living with a disease that will eventually claim my life? It’s not easy. That said, I am determined to use my smile and optimism to affect real change in how metastatic cancer patients are treated. Having a clear purpose for living has become my ultimate challenge.
Challenge accepted!
Knowledge Is Power
I have always been a curious person who has to know as much as I can about something. Some might even call me nosey, and I’m OK with that! Whether it’s watching a show that has a familiar actor or hearing about a breaking news story, I have an almost irresistible impulse to immediately look up more information.
As I navigate my life with metastatic breast cancer, though, it’s proven to be much more complicated than looking up an actor’s information or a news story. The cancer advice, survivor stories, and scientific information are abundant. I have spent hours poring over wellness programs, fundraising opportunities, and alternative health solutions.
That keeps me BUSY, almost as busy as when I was working a full-time regular job!
Using my voice to share my story about laws and policies that directly impact the quality and cost of healthcare for metastatic cancer patients is one of my biggest passions. Although those laws impact everyone, they can mean the difference between life and death for Stage 4 patients.
You are probably asking, “But Debbie, what can you do and what can we do to impact laws and policy changes?”
Let’s look and learn together!
I Want a New Drug
There is a thing called Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs for short). I recently learned about this at an oncology convention, and the more I learned, the more my blood boiled. These companies, owned by major health insurers such as CVS Health, Cigna, and OptumRX, are supposed to act as intermediaries between pharmacies and insurers to get good drug pricing, theoretically saving money for the insurers and thus the patients.
Do you see a problem with that model? The insurers own the PBMs, and the PBMs are dictating where and how you can get prescriptions filled. Savings are then passed on to the insurers—the same ones who OWN THE PBM. Not much is passed down to the patients by the time everyone gets their cut.
Sounds like double-dipping to me!
Those PBMs have the power over where and how you get prescriptions. In Texas, the PBMs are allowed to say that you can only get your prescriptions mail-ordered, except for acute care, such as a sinus infection or broken bone.
For cancer patients, that’s a real problem. If we get 2 months’ worth of a cancer prescription and then have a new cancer progression during that time, we have to wait 2-3 weeks for the new prescription to come in the mail. Meanwhile, that cancer is growing and becoming harder to treat, and the thousands of dollars’ worth of medication we already have is literally going in the trash.
We need change, and we need it now. Some legislation has been passed at the federal level to require PBMs not to exclude any pharmacies and pay them at the same rate as their preferred ones, including brick and mortar pharmacies. That is great for Medicare. However, at the state level, there are still a lot of inequalities that need to be fixed.
Weekly Challenge
I am asking—begging—each of you to take five minutes to email, call, or write your state and federal representatives and senators demanding that this system be fixed. Cancer patients are literally dying while they are waiting for their life-saving drugs.
You can click here or click here to get their contact information.
Please do it today.
And then … go forth. Be exceptional!
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